Nigeria forward Alex Iwobi is convinced the Super Eagles have quality players and team to win next year’s Africa Cup of Nations title in Cameroun.
The Everton player does not feel the team bundled the chance to qualify for the tournament proper with the two draws against minnows Sierra Leone last November.
“The positive you can take is we are still on course to be top of the table, so we are confident we have the quality to do so and put 100% for 90 minutes this time, so we can qualify,” the Everton star told BBC Sport Africa.
The former Arsenal Academy graduate who went on to play 149 times for the Gunners (including 100 in the Premier League) games for the Gunner, scoring 15 goals and provided 27 assist was in the Nigeria squad that finished third in Egypt at the 32nd edition of the competition and the 24 year old strongly wants to return for his second appearance.
“The opportunity I was given last time to be involved in that competition, I want that feeling again,” he said of his 2019 Nations Cup experience, where Nigeria finished third.
“If you are in a competition you want to win it, [and] I believe us players feel we have the quality to do so. We’d like to play in the best competitions and win them, so we have to prove that against Lesotho and Benin.”
Meanwhile Iwobi made his 14th start of the season in 24 appearances as his club, Everton were beaten 2-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
It was the Nigerian’s seventh start and third defeat in eight games against the west London side.
Overall, Iwobi has played 58 times in all competitions for Everton since he joined in the summer of 2019 and has scored four times with two of the goals coming in the Premier League.
Monday evening’s Premier League start was also his 103rd in 149 appearances since he made his debut in October 2015.He has scored 13 times overall and bagged 18 assists. The 2-0 loss was his 48th in 149 games and the Nigerian has fired 167 shots with 68 of them on target and has a 41% shooting accuracy.